Let My Heart Be My Veil

What Have We Done, Lately?

“About 10 years ago, the Lord placed a burden on my heart for Muslim women. I was on a short term mission trip to France. Our main goal was to minister to North African Muslims, living in France. It was a life changing experience for me! The Lord used that experience to show me the desperate need that Muslim women have for Christ!”

I ran accross this post today and I just thought to myself – you know, this is really sad. Why does a woman who has every tool within Islam to fight oppression against her need Christ? I mean it’s not like she’s not going to find verses in the bible which make her property, justify beating her or punish her in the worst possible way for adultery.

And you know, it isn’t even this misconception, this willfull ommission of pertinent information in this regard that blew my mind away, it was this:

Also, try visiting your local Mosque…they will welcome you if you come as someone who is interested in Islam! Be careful to honor their wishes regarding women to be covered and modest and remember that women worship separately in the Mosque, often they will have a separate entrance for women!) My husband and I have had many interesting experiences and adventures at the local mosques in our area! Little did we know that we had visited one of the most militant mosques in the US! (but that requires another post!) My point is to try to interact with Muslims in your area and get the Good News out to them! Ask the Lord for wisdom and discernment for when to share the Gospel with them, to know when the soil has been properly prepared for the seed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Also, before embarking on your own personal ministry to Muslims try reading a few books on Muslim ministry. This will give a deeper understand of the religion and mentality of the Muslim! They are a complicated and fascinating people!

Wow! Wow! ~shaking my head~ I mean wow! Did I read that correctly?

And you know what – I’m not going to get into all of the problems within that text. Instead, I’m going to post an excerpt from a letter that a friend of mine wrote to our local leaders:

Unfortunately, this is a tiny exception. Most masajid are not catering to the needs of our community. It is no longer sufficient for the masjid to be only a place of worship, dry lectures on Quran and hadith, Sunday school, disputes over elections, or a social club for retired immigrants. In addition to these activities, it is now long overdue to establish professional counseling services which address some of the social ills of our communities, including issues of depression, death in the family, breakdown between parents and children, drug/alcohol abuse, divorce, domestic violence, and defending our faith from enemies who spend 24 hrs. / day trying to create doubts in the minds of the average Muslim about Islam.

In addition, our masajid have to be welcoming to a broader spectrum of the Muslim community. These means creating a space for people with different views and perspectives on our religion. In addition to the younger generation, let’s not forget those Muslims who teach Islam at colleges and universities who have no connection to the masjid, even though they are believers and have expertise about our faith.

Unfortunately, gender barriers and ideological barriers have kept a large portion of our community away, including the younger generation, many of whom were raised or born in America. They include couples of mixed marriages where one of the spouses is non-Muslim, or those who have not attended regular worship services for some time. They also include a significant number of single, professional women (doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers, law students, and medical students, etc.) who do not have institutional support for a better understanding of Islam or to further strengthen their iman.

We have to allow space for people who are not on the same religious trajectory as the few individuals who sit on masajid boards. Why? Because some people come to Islam late in their lives. Others leave and come back to Islam during the course of their lives. Others come from homes where Islam was not taken seriously. Should they be ignored by the community? Alhamdulilah, others come from practicing and committed families and remain within the boundaries of our faith. All of these people should feel comfortable and should be welcomed with open arms from the masjid. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. How would a teenage Mark Hanson (Hamza Yusuf) be treated at some of our masajid while he was searching for the Truth? What about a young entertainer like Cat Stevens? Are we presenting the best that Islam has to offer to these people while they are seeking answers to fundamental human questions?

That’s it. I want you to ask yourself what you are doing for your fellow Muslims, what your community is doing in regards to these issues. I don’t just want you to ask yourself those questions, I want you to act upon these issues, ask your communities to act upon these issues. If your community doesn’t offer these services then I want you to actively become involved in volunteering your time to abuse centers, suicide hotlines, medical clinics, soup kitchens and I want you to become familiar with all of the pain out there and then I want us to take care of our own .. because if we don’t, someone else is readilly willing to do it for us.

If you know of a Muslim organization that provides these services write a post encouraging those that visit your blog to volunteer their time. I’ll be doing one in the near future.

It’s a shame to know that this is the case in the States. I thought it was only in Egypt. Here, anyone who is not like ‘them’ is not ‘one of them’ .. not even a Muslim. Whoever is not ‘them’ should try to find his way on his own. This person is deviant and does not deserve to be with ‘them’. And who are those “them” ? A bunch of people who think themselves to be God-sent guardians of Islam!

Samaha,
“Why does a woman who has every tool within the constitution to fight oppression against her need Christ (or Islam for that matter)? I mean it’s not like she’s not going to find verses in the bible (or the quran for that matter) which make her property, justify beating her or punish her in the worst possible way for adultery.”

Did I get that right?

Do I see something like:
“I can’t say I’m right. I can’t say you’re right. BUT – I’m right and you’re wrong. AND – I’m better than you.”

I have to call you on this, Samaha: you got it wrong on fighting oppression. She consciously DOESN’T talk about The Plight of Wimminz In Teh Moozlum World (which is in a way actually comforting, since it means she’s not using them as a hammer against women everywhere.) The only thing that she’s interested in them needing is Christ Jesus.

The problem isn’t that Muslimahs are oppressed or disadvantaged or whatever the hell. The problem is basically just that Muslimahs are, you know, Muslim.

Khokhal – those “them” in Egypt exist here as well amongst our Muslim ummah which is part of the reason that I went on to make suggestions in regards to what we should be doing. We spend way too much time arguing in regards to what is the best way to be Muslim as opposed to really caring about each other and each other’s welfare. We choose to be ignorant to problems that exist in a world where we can’t afford to be ignorant – for god’s sake – you’ll find drug users in Islamic schools but we’re more concerned about segregating the boys and girls than the problems associated with drug use.

Sam – No, you’re not seeing that. I’ll get back to you on the Today’s Parcel post when I’m done reading the book.

Edo – read the last two paragraphs of her post because it’s quite contradictory to the way it initially started out. You are right though it doesn’t matter that they are Muslimahs because the sad truth is that all they do care about is expanding their faith and no better way to do it than by exploiting misery. Don’t get me started on missionaries and Bosnia – it’s quite sick to take advantage of grumbling tummies by using food to advance the message or sending off Muslim orphans to Christian saviors.

“all they do care about is expanding their faith and no better way to do it than by exploiting misery”

Well they do help the miserable in the process. Something that is appreciable in itself though the ulterior motive does corrupt the deed.

More importantly, I don’t see how expanding your faith by “exploiting innocent helplessness and utter dependence” is fine BUT doing so by “exploiting misery” isn’t.
(Specially when the latter involves mature adults while the former involves impressionable children…)

It is funny how we oftentimes fail to critique our own selves using the same measures we apply to others… 😉

I read that entire post on Angela’s Christian Missionary site. I want to begin by saying that you were incredibly eloquent. Masha Allah.

I took offense to her “need” to visit the mosques and minister to Muslim women (who are oppressed). Actually I have taken several other bloggers to task for their arrogant ideals concerning Muslimahs. Too much time ingesting the “holier than thou” media interpretations of events in “Muslim” countries and attributing every nonsense to Islam, and not enough time actually getting to know a real Muslim.

I often like to say this to Christians. “As a Muslim, I may be a better Chrstian than you, because I actually believe in the gospel, and try to live by it. What about you?”

theveiledtsunami – thank you. I was more offended that she claimed that you were attacking her than I was about her claim of me doing so. I thought there was no doubt to your intentions in your comment to her and was really glad that you had tried to open the door to discussion with her.

salams samaha
my original blog, theveiledtsunami was deleted. I am so busy it is difficult to keep up, but I started a new one. I guess I still had a lot to say. Masha Allahu for the gift of words.
you can get me athttp://www.aveiledtsunami.wordpress.com